Jackson man dies after being ejected in vehicle wreck

An early Saturday crash in Jackson has left one man dead after his vehicle left the roadway, overturned and ejected the man from the truck, according to the Aiken County Coroner's Office.

Matthew Turner, 30, was pronounced dead from multiple body trauma at the scene of the crash, which happened around 1:40 a.m. on Saturday near Foreman Road in Jackson, according to Aiken County Coroner Tim Carlton.

Turner was driving with his friend and passenger, 29-year-old Trey Funderburg III, of Martinez, Ga., Carlton said. Funderburg was sent to Georgia Health Sciences Medical Center with non-life-threatening injuries.

According to South Carolina Highway Patrol Cpl. Bob Beres, both men were wearing seat belts at the time of the crash.

Turner was driving a 1995 Ford F150 truck traveling south on Foreman Drive when his truck ran off the right side of the road, Beres said.

"The driver overcorrected and ran off the left side of the road, and then over-corrected again, running off the right side of the road and striking a pine tree," Beres reported.

A "significant" number of alcohol containers were found at the scene by investigators, Carlton said.

The two men were allegedly returning to Turner's home on Kimberly Acres Drive after a night out in Augusta followed by a stop at the Palmetto Roadhouse, a bar in Jackson.

"Because they went to the border bash and then they went to the bar - and with the containers in the vehicle, we feel pretty sure that it's going to be alcohol related, but we won't know until the toxicology comes back," Carlton said.

The crash is being investigated by SCHP and the Coroner's Office.

This is the 14th fatal crash in Aiken County in 2011.